San Fernando Valley Secession Leader Dies At 83

LOS ANGELES, CA — Ron Kaye, the former Los Angeles Daily News editor who helped lead the failed San Fernando Valley secession movement in the early 2000s, has died at the age of 83, his son announced.

"Every parent is a larger than life figure to their children," Alfred Kaye posted Friday on Facebook. "But Ron was a 1 of 1: a muckraking journalist, an independent thinker, a warm and emotionally connected father and grandfather, an intellectual, and a believer in the Dionysian spirit in life. He enjoyed life to the last, celebrating my birthday with me this weekend over omakase sushi and sake, and having his grandchildren over after summer camp on Tuesday."

Ron Kaye died Thursday night at his home in Orange, Connecticut.

After growing up in Cleveland, Kaye worked as a reporter and editor at The Associated Press, Newsweek, the National Enquirer and the now-defunct L.A. Herald-Examiner. He started at the Daily News in 1985 as an assistant city editor, rising to managing editor in 1993 and editor in 2005.

"Ron stepped on a lot of big toes in this town looking for the truth," former Daily News reporter and columnist Dennis McCarthy said. "Pity the politician or bureaucrat who tried to slip a lie by him. He wasn't afraid to climb in the ring with any of them. The way he saw it, his job was to make sure the game wasn't rigged, that the little guy got a fair shake. Those were his marching orders to every reporter who had the privilege of working with him."

His son said that during his career, "he saw many of the forces of social and political decay at work that have recently damaged our politics. Within the microcosm of Los Angeles, he sought to find a balance between those forces, pushing forward coverage of major issues such as police violence towards Rodney King as well as advocating for the interests of the `everyman' of the San Fernando Valley."

In 2002, Kaye and the Daily News pushed hard for Measure F, which would have made the San Fernando Valley an independent city and not part of Los Angeles. He and others argued that the region was not getting the attention and resources is merited from L.A. political leaders.

The measure failed to pass.

"As managing editor of the Daily News at the time, I believed the Valley had to stand up for itself and demand respect from City Hall," Kaye wrote years later. "Secession was the best available tool to achieve that whether it succeeded or failed."

Kaye leaves behind his wife Deborah, son Alfred and grandchildren Dash and Theo.

City News Service